A History of Hibernian Football Club
The club was founded in August
1875 by members of the St Patrick's RC Church based on the Cowgate. The club's
principal founders were Canon Edward Joseph Hannan, and the head of the local
Catholic Young Men's Association, Michael Whelahan, who became the first club
captain. The team originally played, like all other teams of the time, on the
Meadows, a park towards the south of Edinburgh's Old Town. The club moved to a
purpose built ground in 1880, named Hibernian Park, which stood where Bothwell
Street in Leith stands today. The club moved to its present ground at Easter Road
in 1891, just a stone throw away from their first home.
Hibs were the first
major club in Scotland formed by members of large Irish Catholic population of
the time. The club's name reflects its Irish roots, (hence the name, from Hibernia,
the Latin name for Ireland). A strict translation of the name Hibernian FC would
be "Irishmen Football Club." As the first such team, their example led
to the creation of Dundee Hibernian (now Dundee United) and Celtic, who when they
were formed were nearly called Glasgow Hibernian. The club is seen as being less
of a Catholic institution now than it was in the past, and geography rather than
religion is the primary reason that association fans support the team (Hibernian
being the club for East Edinburgh).
On August 13, 1887, Hibernian defeated
Preston North End in a match co-billed by the FA and SFA as the Association Football
Championship of the World decider, due to the two teams' achievements in their
respective domestic cup trophies.
Hibernian introduced white sleeves to their
shirts on 13 August 1938 against Hamilton Accies after a major brightening up
of Easter Road had taken place. The harp and shamrocks at the entrance had been
repainted as had the stand and the wall round the pitch and the terracing barriers
had all been painted white. The goalposts had been replaced with oval ones with
green nets. On that day, Harry Swan addressed the large crowd over new loudspeakers
about "the brighter Easter Road" before the team appeared in their new
strip.
Hibernian were the first British club to appear in European competition,
in its inaugural 1955/56 season. Hibernian's participation had little to do with
qualification as they accepted the invitation to European competition that was
declined by the four teams that finished above them in the Scottish League. Playing
their first game against German side Rot-Weiss Essen, Hibernian won 4-0 in Essen
and the return tie in Scotland ended in a 1-1 draw. Hibernian went on to reach
the semi-finals, only to be defeated by a Stade de Reims side inspired by the
great French footballer Raymond Kopa.
The last major trophy won by the club
was the 1991 League Cup, when they defeated Dunfermline in the final. They also
reached the League Cup final in 2004, losing to Livingston. Hibernian have not
won the Scottish Cup since 1902. Their last appearance in the final was a 3-0
loss to Celtic in 2001.
Hibernian's most recent relegation to the First Division
came at the end of the 1997-98 season. They immediately won promotion back to
the SPL, however, in the 1998-99 season, helped by a run of 12 wins in a row on
as they were crowned First Division champions. They earned a record total of 89
points and finished 23 points ahead of second-placed Falkirk.
The team colours
are emerald green and white. The strip has a green body, with white sleeves, a
white collar, and green cuffs. The shorts are white, and the socks are green with
white tops. For the 2004/2005 season the colour of the shorts was changed to a
green which matches the shirt colour to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the
club's 2-0 win over Real Madrid, as this was the kit originally worn for this
friendly match.
Tony Mowbray was appointed Hibs manager on 24 May 2004, replacing
the unpopular Bobby WilliamsonHis appointment came as a surprise because the media
had been speculating about many other possible candidates, such as John Gorman
David Hay and Tommy Burns .
Mowbray placed an emphasis on playing attacking,
passing football, despite the relative youth of the team and the pressure for
results.
The Mowbray era ended on 12 October 2006, when he left Hibernian to
become manager of West Bromwich Albion.
These policies were rewarded with a
3rd place finish in Mowbray's first season as manager (2004/05), and a place in
the UEFA Cup for the following season (2005/06). Hibs reached the semi-final stage
of the Scottish Cup where they lost 1-2 to Dundee United, despite taking the lead
early in the second half.
In the 2005/06 season, Hibs got off to an excellent
start, winning 10 of their first 14 league games. This form led to speculation
by some commentators that they could put in a challenge for the championship,
but Tony Mowbray played down the club's chances, pointing to the lack of squad
depth and the much higher budgets of Rangers, Celtic and Hearts. Some injuries
and the sale of Garry O'Connor to Lokomotiv Moscow exposed this lack of depth.
After a largely disappointing second half of the season, Hibs finished 4th in
the SPL and qualified for the Intertoto Cup.
Hibs were beaten 5-1 on aggregate
by Ukrainian club FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in the first round of the UEFA Cup.
They showed promising signs in the Scottish Cup, beating Arbroath 6-0, Rangers
3-0 and Falkirk 5-1, but they were defeated 0-4 by rivals Hearts in the semi-finals.
The
competitive football started early in 2006/07 for Hibs due to their qualification
for the Intertoto Cup. They beat their first opponents Dinaburg on a comfortable
8-0 aggregate, but were eliminated on the away goals rule by Danish team OB in
the third round.
Hibs got off to a slow start in the new league season, taking
eleven points from the first nine matches. The highlight of the league season
so far was a 2-1 win over Rangers on September 17, but this was then followed
with two disappointing losses against Falkirk and St. Mirren, both by 1-0.
On
7 September 2006, Tony Mowbray and Mark Venus signed new 12-month rolling contracts
that were due to come into force in July 2007. However, shortly after signing
the deal, Mowbray departed to become manager of West Bromwich Albion. Mark Venus,
Mowbray's assistant at Hibs, joined him at West Brom in the following week. John
Park (previously director of football) and Mark Proctor (previously a first team
coach) took charge on a caretaker basis.
Following media speculation about
Falkirk manager John Hughes, Cowdenbeath manager Mixu Paatelainen and Nottingham
Forest coach Ian McParland, it was announced on 31 October 2006 that John Collins
will be the new manager, with Tommy Craig as his assistant.
This history
is up to the end of 2006.
Hibernian have won 4 Scottish League Titles, 2 Scottish Cups, 2 League Cups, and 1 World Title. Plus 2 Dryborough Cups, and 1 Tennnats Sixes.
And have been 5 times Runners up in the Scottish League Championship, 9 times Scottish Cup Runners Up, and 6 times League Cup Runners Up. And 1 Runnr up in what was essentially a British Cup.
They have been 3rd in the Scottish Championship 13 times.
They have been in 2 European Semi Finals, and 4 European Quarter Finals.
1955 Rot -Weiss Essen 0 Hibernian 4 Hibs defeat the German champions in the first European cup game for a Scottish team, on their way to the semi final.
1887 Hibernian 2 Preston North End
1, officially tagged as the World Championship,
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